


Mysterious Rooms and Mirrors

by Witty_Clever_Username



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Mentioned Lily Evans Potter, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mirror of Erised, Pre-Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:13:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26133280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witty_Clever_Username/pseuds/Witty_Clever_Username
Summary: Hogwarts was a place of many secrets. One day the Marauders would figure out all the old castle hid, even if that meant stumbling into rooms which held secrets some would prefer remained that way.Or: The Marauders stumble on to a very interesting mirror
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 11
Kudos: 65





	Mysterious Rooms and Mirrors

**Author's Note:**

> Before rea

Hogwarts was a place of many secrets, It wasn’t just the people who graced it’s walls that held the secrets, but the walls themselves. If one was looking they could find all sorts of mystery's. From passageways that lead to nowhere, to passageways that lead to exciting new adventure, there were rooms that seemed to exist with no intended purpose, and rooms that seemed to have every known purpose. For any good thrill seeking youths Hogwarts was it’s only Theme Park filled to the brim with exciting new possibilities.

This is what lead the Marauders on one very sacred quest, to find and map out all of it’s hidden secrets. The marauders had been diligently working on completing their map for the pass 5 years of their education. They frequently skulked out at night under the cover of James’ invisibility cloak hunting down new discoveries.

Which is why it wasn’t such a surprise that they’d found themselves on yet another nightly run from the ever watchful eyes of the caretaker. Night time searches were certainly more thrilling but carried the danger of being caught out of bed and receiving yet more detention. With their bodies growing larger with age this almost guaranteed a mad dash when the cloak failed to cover all four completely. Peter tripping over James’ feet certainly didn’t help in avoiding detection. So the four boys ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

Running until the fastest of the pack suddenly came to an abrupt halt, causing a domino effect to topple the others.

“Merlin James! Filch is coming, why’d you stop?” Sirius moaned as he rubbed his elbow from where it collided with the hard stone floor.

“There’s a door Sirius”

“No shit there’s a fucking door, what of it?” Sirius having been particularly moody all day chastised his friend. They’d taken this current night time hunt as a way to cheer up the long haired boy after receiving yet another letter from home. Clearly it’d not had the desired effect, though running into filch shortly after sneaking out had put a damper on the activities for all of them.

“There’s never been a door here, it’s not on the map!”

“Never mind, Filch is coming. Just go in the goddamn room!” Remus scolded the squabbling boys as foot steps echoed nearer to their current position.

Sirius was the first off the floor and in through the mystery door, followed very closely by the other boys.

Peter

Peter was gazing around the big empty room while James and Sirius bickered in hushed tones. Sirius was in one of his Walburga induced moods and was frankly being a bit of a dick, getting on his last nerves. It wasn’t exactly Sirius’ fault but still he didn’t need to be such as ass. Peter would just rather avoid the whole argument and wait quietly until Sirius was actually ready to talk, unlike James who kept goading their mate. Remus was of course playing mediator between the two and placing charms on the door to attempt to keep from being discovered.

Given the current situation it wasn’t much of a surprise that he was the first to see the giant object in the center of the room. A large sheet was flung over an arch shaped object in front of him, and being a Marauder he had to know what was underneath. He didn’t disturb his friends as he yanked the sheet off, revealing a giant Mirror. Great a mystery room and all it’s got in it is a big fuck off mirror. At least it’s large enough for Sirius ego.

He was about to call his mates over to show them how pointless this whole room seemed to be when he caught a glimpse in the mirror. It was clearly his reflection shining back like any other mirror would have, but something was different. His body seemed to be slimmer and his muscles looked more toned.

Peter was slightly transfixed, and as he stared into the mirror the image around him seemed to change. No longer was he wearing school robes but a full Quidditch uniform, he had to look down on his body to ensure what he was seeing wasn’t reality. The background around him changed as well, he was no longer a boy alone in the reflection but his friends were with him. Their reflected images seemed to be smiling up at him, cheering and praising him.

He had to keep checking around him to see if that his friends were in fact still arguing by the door, the reflection looked so real. His mind knew what he was seeing though, him as their equal if not more the leader of the group. The mirror seemed to hold the opposite of his greatest fears, he’d always seen himself as lesser then the others regardless of their reassurance that he wasn’t. Now here for his eyes only he was no longer, the picture was captivating and he couldn’t pull his eyes away.

He’d always longed to truly feel this, as he’d watched the others grow and shine, he’d never seen it reflected in himself. However in this mirror he saw it, all the things they had that he’d always wanted for himself. He had James’ athletic body and wore the Quidditch robes to match. There were girls staring at him the way they longingly did towards Sirius and McGonagall was looking at him with that proud look she gave Remus every time she handed back one for his homework assignments.

He was completely stunned, this mirror was incredible. Part of him didn’t want to share it with his friends, wanted whatever this was completely to himself. The bigger part of him was just too stunned by the whole sudden image to form any words which would draw his mates attention

Remus

Remus was losing his last scrape of patience, if James didn’t stop pestering Sirius he was going to put them both in a full body bind. Sirius was obviously hurting and James forcing him to open up wasn’t going to solve anything, Sirius needed to come about it in his own time. He was fucking tired of mediating between the two, and as selfish as it is the worst part is when Sirius is finally ready to talk about this, it’ll be James he turns to.

It shouldn’t cause him such upset that he knows Sirius won’t bring his problems to his shoulders, yet it does. He craves the easy talking relationship he knows his friends will fall straight back into. He loves James as a best mate so much, but he desperately hopes each time Sirius gets out of his bed in nights like this, that maybe just once it’d be his bed Sirius would climb into.

He’s starting to ignore the argument and enter what Sirius calls his “Mopey, Moony, Mood” with his thoughts. It’s just easier if he can shut off his mind and go quiet until he can push all these feeling aside and go back to being happy for his friends. Turning away from them though, something catches his eye that prevents him from it.

Peter is standing, staring opened mouth at some giant piece of furniture. Pete is so transfixed that it completely rips his thoughts of the others from his mind and he has to see what’s captured his mate’s attention so solely.

“Pete, what’s that?” He asks making his way to where Peter stands.

“I don’t, I don’t know” Peter stumbles out his eyes not moving, seems strange because as he comes closer he can clear see that it’s simply and ornate looking mirror. Nothing seems off about it as he looks at the reflection of him and Peter in the glass, so why is Pete so fixated?

“Pete, it’s just a mirror”

“no.. No, look!” Pete exclaims pulling him to stand directly in front of it, and shuffling himself a little out of the direct line of sight.

“Do you see it? Do you see me?”

“What, I mean, yeah of course I see you it’s a mirror Mate”

“No, look! I’m fit and you guys are..” Pete’s words trail off but with them Remus had taken a harder look into the mirror and suddenly the reflection is changing on him. It’s not Peter that’s changing though, it’s the entire image.

The first thing he notices causes his heart to skip a beat in his chest with panic. A full moon seems to shine brightly in the sky behind him and for a moment he is worried he is about to transform right here with his friends locked in a room with the beast. Only his reflection isn’t transforming, it’s smiling carefree and human. He has to wait for his panic to abate before he even notices the rest of the details.

The face smiling back at him is definitely his own but no scars mark the skin. His hand is shaking as he brings it up to his face, only his fingers can still feel the scars there. He has to test it though, what if this mirror did something to him? So he rolls up his sleeve and glaces away from the mirror to see the scarred flesh there, looking back at the skin on his arm through the mirror it looks just as clear as his face. He repeats the process of looking at his own arm and too the reflection several times.

It’s almost a painful sight now he knows that once he looks away it’ll be gone. In the mirror he now understands what he’s seeing, the reflection isn’t a monster unlike him. Though the imagine remains himself laughing in the light of the full moon, he can see what it doesn’t show.

His mind places the pieces of a four year old boy, sleeping soundly in his bed, only this time no visitors sneak through his window. That’s what the image shows indirectly, him having a happy childhood, not locked away hidden from society like the monster he is. It’s him as if that one event never occurred, the reflection shows him as he could have been.

It’s painful, yet he can’t turn away. He can feel tears escaping his eyes but the image is unchanged, still smiling with unhinged joy. Is that what this mirror does? It mocks you and shows you a life you could never achieve?

“Moony, what’s wrong?” James voice is asking as him and Sirius join the reflection and though he doesn’t turn to look at them he can tell that the voice doesn’t reflect the smiling faces he sees in the mirror.

All three of the other Marauders are with him in the image now, enjoying the moonlight with him. Sirius’ arms wrap around his reflected body, though he feels no contact and when he sees Sirius lean down to place a kiss on his cheek he has to turn away.

It’s a joke, a cruel joke and he can’t handle seeing it anymore. He walks away from the mirror and he can feel Sirius follow him.

James

James had been rather concerned to see Remus staring into a giant mirror with tears trailing down his face. It wasn’t like Remus to cry openly, even if he got down about his scars sometimes. More concerning still when Remus didn’t reply the first few times they called his name. Something was certainly setting his friend off and he’d already been dealing with one moody friend today and now it seemed as it he’d be coping with both, anything for his mates though.

Moony retreated from the mirror shortly after Sirius and him made their way over, never responding to his question. Not unsurprising as Moony liked to go freakishly quiet when he was upset, only surprising that something had upset him about a silly old mirror. Sirius was following Moony though, so no time to focus on the Mirror he had to stop Sirius from saying something untoward to Remus while Sirius was in such a shitty mood.

Only when he briefly looked at the mirror while only he stood in front of it he caught a flash of something that drew his attention back. Red hair glimmered in the mirror and bring his attention back he saw Lily standing right with him in the mirror. A quick flash look around taught him that this was a lie. Still his eyes were drawn back to Lily, she was standing side by side with him, and oh Merlin she was holding his hand!

Lily wasn’t the only one is the mirror, his mates were there too. Everything seemed exactly as it usually was, him and his mates laughing and having a good time. Only difference was Lily, Lily watched him adoringly as he caught the snitch he played with in his hand, his other hand tightly gripped by Lily’s smaller one.

It was a fantastic sight, and something he’d noticed only when he really stared at the picture. Sirius’ face looked completely carefree in a way it hadn’t lately with the ever growing tension with his family. Remus didn’t look tired or sick and no books were in front of his face. Peter looked braver somehow, like that constant checking for approval was wiped from his personality. This was joy, everything the mirror showed was just what he wanted, simple things but important to him.

He couldn’t understand why Remus had looked so upset. The only thing that was even remotely upsetting in the mirror was Lily. As happy and blissful as this was, when he saw Lily next she wouldn’t be looking at him like that, she wouldn’t be holding his hand. No she’d probably hex him when he inevitably did something stupid to try to win her affections. He always acted like a fool when it came to Lily, but his brain just stopped functioning properly when she was around and each time she rejected him for his stupidity and each time it would hurt.

Still if this mirror showed him one thing it was that he wouldn’t give up. The sight in the mirror was too perfect and he wasn’t about to let it go. It was attainable if only he could stop acting like a massive berk every time Lily was near.

“Oi Sirius, you got to come see this mate!” Sirius needed to see this, needed to get in on whatever the flipping hell this mirror was.

Sirius

Sirius was sitting quietly with a sulking Remus when James called to him. He didn’t need to do as James asked though.

“Nah mate I’m good”

“Seriously Sirius, you’ve got to see this it’s a trip, it isn’t just some old mirror mate” James called to him, and he choose to ignore the name joke for now. It was a useless thing to point out anyways, He already knows it’s not just some mirror, he’d always been rather observant.

“I know it’s not just some mirror James, I just don’t need to look” It’s the truth, he knows exactly what will happen if he looks at that mirror and the last thing he needs today is to have his suspicions confirmed by some dumb ass mirror. Much better to sit with Remus and support him through it then look and feel just like him. Remus hated showing emotion like he had and Sirius needed to remain on whatever teetering edge he was currently balance on so he could offer that support. If he looked at that mirror he’d surely fall over.

“How in Merlin’s name could you know?”

“For fucks sake James it says right on it ‘Mirror of Erised’, it’s not that hard to figure out” He’s always been quick to get over fights with James but that didn’t mean his mood was any better yet, so why the hell should he have to spell it out for him? James could be transfixed by some stupid ass mirror, but that was James with his fantastic family and life. He’d already watched Moony’s face play through the emotions that waited for him in that mirror and once his mind put together the name he didn’t need anything more to tell him that his would play through the same mix of wonder and horror. Either way he wasn’t about to explain it to James, the moron was more than intelligent enough to figure it out.

“What’s it do?” Had that been James’ reply he’d have likely ignored it, but it’s Remus that replies, voice held surprisingly steady though his eyes glimmer with moister. He’s shocked that Remus has even broken his silence so soon, and more shocked to actually see his eyes. Remus deserved a reply, even if James was present to hear it.

“I might be wrong but it’s just backwards isn’t it? Erised, it’s just desire backwards. The Mirror of Desire, seems like it’s pretty obvious what it does once you figure that out”

“Oh” Comes James’ only response, seems like he finally clued in as to why Sirius wouldn’t want to look at something like that. Not now, not when he has to go ‘home’ in a couple of months and face his reality.

“What would you see then?” Pete however has always been one to speak without thinking. He’d actually been oddly quiet since his discovery of the mirror, likely brought out of his stupor by the knowledge of the mirror’s true nature. He doesn’t want to explain to them, surely they’d all know if they cared to think about it. It’s the same way he knew exactly what Moony saw once he’d figured out the mirror.

He’d see their stupid faces, only they would be different, better. Not the Marauders of course, but his biological family. It’d be a cruel sick joke, but he knows himself well enough to know it’s been his greatest wish for as long as he can remember, a little brother who looks up to him, a father who taught him how to play Quidditch and beams at him with pride, a mother who hugs him and just loves him unconditionally. Basically James’ family, but his very own.

“What did you see then Pete? Cause it’s none of your damn business! Don’t ask stupid questions” Not surprisingly James is being James and instantly jumping in to yell at Peter for daring to ask. If they are honest, they’ll all probably tell each other in a few days, Marauders don’t keep secrets. James will also feel like shit for snapping at Pete but it won’t matter anyways, it never does with them. It’s partly why he doesn’t need to look in that mirror, he may desire that family but he has a much better one in his mates.

“Come on, I’m sure Filch is gone by now, lets hit the kitchens before we go back” He’s done with this room and all it’s mirror shows and really done with just thinking of his family. He’d been in a crappy mood since he received his mother’s bullshit letter this morning and now it’s time for shit food and pretending to sleep.

Moony still seems half out of it as he offers his hand to help him up. It’s not the first time he wonders if tonight he’ll finally be able to slip through Remus’ curtains when he can’t sleep. James has always been the safer option but still something in him longs to go to Remus’ bed every time. Maybe tonight.

...

The Marauders return to the dorm was quiet and uneventful, each of their minds still focused on the Mirror. Mapping the mysterious room was pushed to the way side, as they busied themselves thinking about what they’d been shown or in Sirius’ case what wasn’t seen.

One day they’d still figure out all the old castle hid, even if that meant stumbling into rooms which held secrets some would prefer remained that way.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is something a friend of mine asked for. I think I've read similar things on what the Marauders would see before, but this is just my take on the story of it so hopefully no one gets mad at me for that. It's all mine, but I think the view of what they would see is pretty easy to overlap considering the characterizations (I'll shut up now)  
> There is a lovely and brilliant post on tumblr [Here](https://sirius-sit-down.tumblr.com/post/620022919008043008/so-ive-been-thinking-for-a-while-about-the) by https://sirius-sit-down.tumblr.com That has very similar concepts  
> So, here my [tumblr](https://probablysomethingsadandbitter.tumblr.com/) if anyone cares for it.  
> (side note incredibly proud of myself for learning to embed)


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